Saturday, 11 February 2012

I'm Hearing Emotional Voices

Emotion is the engine of a story. Pick an emotion and in a flash fiction piece of 250 words MAKE us feel it! We want to connect with your character. This will be a challenge in 250 words.

I was going to go back to Kael for this one, but I couldn’t get the scene to stay under 250 words. So I’m giving the last challenge to Dragon, as seen through Maayin’s less knowing eyes after she’s been imprisoned.

I’ll leave you to decide what emotion I chose. ^_^

The smooth shell under her fingers bulged as the dragon inside tapped against her hand. The clammy skin underneath slid against her palm. “Hush little one,” she breathed, hoping it could hear her. Would it break free on its own? Did she dare try to help?

It rocked harder, shoving against her and rolling off into the darkness. Swearing softly, she moved to stand when she heard a soft crack. Maay froze, her hand hovering over her skirts as she paused in wiping the slime off. There was movement to her left, something small and pallid hovering on the edge of her vision. She spun round to face the figure, finding naught but more darkness. “Hello?”

Her heart leapt as the silence was broken by a crunch and the unmistakeable scrape of claws on stone. Maay swung back to where she’d seen the egg disappear into shadow. She took a step towards the darkness, sure she could make out something huddled in its depths. “Little one?”

The words bounced back at her unanswered. Even the scrabbling had stopped and the pale lump before her was unmoving. Yet, she felt the uneasy prickling sensation of being watched. Measured. Did dragons hatch hungry? How steady, how lethal, could a newly-hatched dragon be?

She backed away from the lump, smothering a scream as the hatchling lurched forward. It uttered its own piercing shriek, colliding into her in a flash of white fur and with a sickening crunch.